Bill Althaus: Mavs keep finding ways to top themselves

Saturday

Winning a Central Hockey League Franchise of the Year award at the league’s annual Spring Conference is considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Winning a Central Hockey League Franchise of the Year award at the league’s annual Spring Conference is considered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

To win it in back-to-back years is unprecedented.

Yet, that’s exactly what the Missouri Mavericks did this week in Las Vegas, where the third-year team brought home eight of the top 15 awards.

“It’s pretty much unprecedented,” Mavericks team president and general manager Brent Thiessen said after receiving the Brad Treliving Executive of the Year award. “To receive a team honor like that, from your peers, is the best – absolutely, it’s the best.”

In just three years, the Mavericks have become as much a part of the fabric of Eastern Jackson County as hometown presidential icon Harry Truman.

Fans love this team with their heart and soul – and for good reason.

The Mavericks came within seconds of winning the Turner Conference Championship and advancing to the CHL Ray Miron Cup Championship Series for the first time in team history, and you can bet Thiessen and coach Scott Hillman are doing everything possible to help the team reach the one goal it has not yet conquered – a CHL championship.

“No one works harder than Scott or our staff,” Thiessen said, “and what makes that so special is that we have one of the lowest, if not the lowest, amount of turnover in staff of any team in the CHL. We work long hours, but we don’t see it as work.

“We love what we do, and we’re seeing the results of our hard work, both on and off the ice.”

The Mavericks were the talk of the spring awards ceremony, as team vice president Patrick Armstrong won the Communications Executive of the Year and Ben Gaul won the Ticketing Executive of the Year for the second year in a row.

“The neatest thing about this awards ceremony was how everyone from the Mavericks who won an award thanked the entire Mavericks team when they were honored,” Armstrong said. “This is a team effort.”

Missouri led the league with 19 sellouts during the regular season, and the Mavericks’ numbers in the areas of merchandising, corporate sales and ticket sales were honored throughout the evening as the best in the league.

Last season, the Mavs captured six awards giving them repeat winners in the categories of Group Ticket Sales, Franchise of the Year, Merchandising Franchise of the Year, Ticketing Executive of the Year and Communications Executive of the Year.

The Mavericks were also named the Ticket Sales Franchise of the Year.

“Everyone on our staff works so hard,” Hillman said. “To win the big one – the Franchise of the Year – for the second year in a row shows how everyone from the ice to the people upstairs make this a special place to work.”

The bar couldn’t be set any higher for the upcoming season, and Thiessen and Co. are ready for the challenge.

“A lot of folks at the conference asked how we’re going to top the past two seasons,” Thiessen said, “I don’t really know right now. But believe me, we’ll be working on it because we want every season to be the best one that any of our fans can remember.”

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